Blog

As of right now, I’m writing this blog at 8:30pm on a Monday night after a full workday. I’ll be honest with you and tell you that I don’t really feel like writing this blog but I do it because of my content plan and it’s easier to do because I have a plan and I’ve taken a lot of the work out of it for myself already.

But this is a problem that many small businesses and entrepreneurs have: it’s hard to stay consistent with your content. And without consistency, your content marketing is never going to get you anywhere.

Well I’m going to let you in on some secrets of staying consistent with your content!

Create a content calendar

Creating a content calendar might be one of the best things you can do for your content marketing. It does not take long and it makes it so much easier because you don’t have to think about to write. So many people write when “inspiration strikes” or when they feel creative or have a good idea. Which is fine… if you write as a hobby. But if you write for your business, you have to have a plan. There’s got to be structure. Sit down every month, brainstorm a list of topics your audience is interested in. Them break them up into once a week, twice a week or every other week blogs or newsletters or whatever your content schedule is.

2. Structure your content

I know what you’re thinking, “Ok, Maura, creating a content calendar means I actually have to come up with interesting and relevant content all in one sitting. How am I supposed to do that?”

I’ll give you the easiest way I break up content: I keep solving my clients problems over and over.

Because I’ve done my audience research, I know exactly what my client wants and what they need. I know exactly what stresses them out, what questions they ask and the solutions I offer. So I break up my content into problems that my clients have and solutions I have.

For example, I know my clients want to figure out how to convert their social media and blog followers into paying customers. But in order to get there, they need to create a plan, choose their platforms, get their messaging right, build a following, stay consistent, measure their results, etc. That’s like five blog posts right there. So structure your content around solving one micro problem at a time for your clients. Let it all connect properly.

3. Pre-write your content

Obviously this is something I don’t do! But it’s extremely helpful to make the time and batch your content. If you can’t write all your content in one sitting, then outline it! This helps you from feeling like you’re just staring at a blank screen.

4. Measure what’s working

Measurement is crucial for figuring out what is working in your content and what’s not. I like to look at traffic, outbound links, comments and reshares. Measuring your content does two things for you. The first is allows you to keep creating better content. The more you understand the types of subjects that your audience likes, the headline that work, the times of day that resonate, the better your content will be. Additionally, one of the things I’ve learned about content is that it’s hard to feel like it’s working at first because most of the time, it doesn’t create results right away. At least, not the types of results that most people want immediately (like revenue). But if you measure it and track it, you will end up seeing some movement and growth. This will help keep you motivated to keep up your content.

5. Make your content last.

If you want your content to keep working for you and to be able to keep getting something out of it, which, of course, in turn, helps keep you motivated to keep writing content, then go back to your old blogs and updating them as necessary. I like to link to old blogs within my posts, update old blogs with links to newer ones or doing “Part 2s” of blog posts. Blogs can compound over time and something you wrote months ago can still get traffic and conversions.

6. Outsource when necessary.

Finally my last tip is to find help when you need it. If you can’t keep up getting consistent content out there, it might be time to think about outsourcing your content. Partner with a freelancer or agency to create regular content that aligns with your business goals and keeps up with your content calendar. It can be a great cost friendly way to get results out of your content without spending all of your time on it.